Skellig is 8 years old in about a month. He was born January 97. He’s been with me for a long time.

He is beautiful and very large. He’s gotten into a lot of different kinds of trouble over the years. But he still runs to the door when I get home from work.

Chris tells me that if I am particularly late, he will wait by the door and cry a little for me. What a cat! That’s friendship.

He is not a shy cat. If people come to the door, he sniffs them thoroughly to make sure they are acceptable. He’s not looking for pettings, he’s inspecting the new arrivals for problems.

Some people call their pets the “children” or “family”. Skellig is not that to me. He’s my friend, and when we are on the outs, he’s my annoying roommate.

But over the course of 8 years, wow…we know each other pretty well. If I am upset and crying, he gets agitated and checks on me to make sure I am okay. He usually manages to cheer me up with his kitty concern.

If I am sick, he will join me in the sickroom for communal napping. He’s an expert at napping.

I love him very much. I try not to go on about it, but pretty much everyone who has been to my home knows I’m crazy about my cat.

Here lately, the cat has been sick. He’s been sort of down. He had stopped trotting over when it was time for his food (his favorite time of day). He wasn’t interested in playing.

He had taken to doing this moaning thing. Sort of a throaty quiet meow. And worst of all, he was obsessed with water and peeing ALL THE TIME.

In inappropriate places. So we took him to the vet.

This week Tuesday, I learned that Skellig has developed Feline Diabetes.

This is a pretty high-maintenance disease. I have to inject him twice daily with a sharp needle. He is so brave, and he trusts me, which breaks my heart.

The good news is that it is not too expensive. The medicine seems to be about 40 bucks a month. And I haven’t done any bargain shopping yet.

He’s taking it okay. Since I give him treats before and after the injection, he even runs up when I am preparing the syringe. What a hero!

His fur is amazingly thick. It is impossible to see through it to the skin. I have to jab and push. I always worry that I haven’t quite got the needle in the skin. I mean, before Wednesday night I had never injected anything or anybody. Now, I’m expected to stab my cat every 12 hours.

Yesterday, I pushed it a little harder and he twitched. So this morning, he was more hesitant to accept the needle. He wanted to sniff it a little longer. So I was more gentle.

Then, I worried that I hadn’t punctured the skin. I suppose it’s obsessive of me, but this is an important thing! So I petted his neck for a while to see if there was a wet spot. It’s such a small amount of insulin, I wondered if it would even show?

So, I took the needle I had just used and took the same amount (2 units) of water and squirted it on a napkin. It made a decent sized puddle, so I felt reassured that I would notice if I had missed.

I have spent this morning trying to read up on what there is to know. The vet wants to have the cat back for the day to do a glocose curve and see how he is responding to her guess-diagnosis of 2 units of insulin every 12 hours.

I’m looking into home tests. He truly hates the vet. This vet is nicer than most I’ve taken him to, but…I’d rather see what we can do at home.

There is a lot of information about this on the web. But then again, medicine is moving fast these days. Sites that are 5 years old may not have information about new technology.

I am really grateful for the data I’m finding. That’s why I am going to share my own experiences. I know that some of my readers are not so enthralled with the ins and outs of cat stabbing, but there may be some new readers out there who are grateful to hear someone else’s experiences. Hence my new category:

Feline Diabetes

Any comments from people who have experience or knowledge about this subject or any related topics is much appreciated.

My big worries are when I have to leave the cat. What pet sitter would be able to do this care? I would like to find maybe a once a day treatment. If it could be oral instead of injected, too, I think that would be nicer.

I know there is a lot of information out there. It will take a while to sort it out.

The other good news is, they say that cats with diabetes will still live long lives if they get good treatment. I want Skellig to live for another…Oh..ten years. I would miss him too much.